Tag Archives: Passionists

Thursday, 2nd Week of Lent

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Lent 1

The readings for the 2nd Week of Lent are mainly about the mercy of God. On Monday we were told in Luke’s Gospel: “Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful.” (Luke 6: 36)

The  man In Jesus’ parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, our reading today, is far from merciful, absorbed as he is in himself and his own good. He’s living in a bubble of luxury, a gated world where he sees nothing else, not the poor man at his door nor his own inevitable death. He sees nothing else but the “good life,”  wealth and pleasure.

Scriptures, like Psalm 49, often point out the dangers of riches. “In his riches, man lacks wisdom; he is like the beasts that are destroyed.” The parable is obviously an example for the rich, but it’s also a warning for others besides.

Our first reading from Jeremiah warns all of us about trusting in human success and achievements. Even a small store of talents and gifts can make us as shortsighted as a great store of riches. The parable’s warning goes beyond the obviously rich. Small things we treasure, little things we make everything, can make us blind to the poor at our gate.

We don’t have to be a super billionaire to lack wisdom. “All you peoples, give heed, all who dwell in the world, men both low and high, rich and poor alike.” (Psalm 49)

Jesus’ parable also points to the treasure we should keep in mind. In a turn of circumstances, the poor like Lazarus will be rewarded in the next life and the merciful who cared for them will be in their company. Jesus gives us a sign in his resurrection that those who have been rejected will find acceptance in the heavenly kingdom.

A life beyond this is our destiny and our treasure. What we do and how we live here counts there. May God give us grace to believe in it.

Lord, I see only so far, I live for the day

my vision is all on what’s before me,

Give me eyes to see Lazarus, wherever he may be,

to see your kingdom in those in need.

Friday, 1st Week of Lent: Anger and Prayer

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Lent 1


Readings

Our readings this week are about prayer, not so much the words of prayer–Jesus warned about wordy prayer – but about attitudes that make prayer possible and flow from prayer.

The gift of prayer is always ours, like rain and snow it comes down from heaven, but then there’s the ground it falls on.

In yesterday’s first reading, Queen Esther and her servants “ lay prostrate on the ground, from morning until evening” praying for deliverance from their enemies. Their prayer is similar to Jesus who prayed prostrate on the ground in Gethsemane. They’re fearful, without resources, humbled, but they do not settle for being humbled, they reach to the One who can raise them up. Humility leads them to pray.

Esther gets more than she asks for– an immediate, surprising victory over her enemies. Jesus is also heard as he prays– after he drinks the cup of suffering he is raised up. Humility leads to prayer and new life.

Today’s reading looks at anger and its relationship to prayer.  

God gets no pleasure from the death of the wicked, Ezekiel says in our first reading, but God rejoices when someone ‘turns from his evil way that he may live,” God is not an angry God, looking to punish. God looks for reconciliation. (Ezekiel 18:21-28)

Jesus also looks for reconciliation. The gospel reminds us he sees reconciliation as a condition for prayer.

“If you bring your gift to the altar,
and there recall that your brother
has anything against you,
leave your gift there at the altar,
go first and be reconciled with your brother,
and then come and offer your gift.

A reconciling person lives respectfully. “Respect” is a wonderful word. It means “to look again” in Latin, to look again at someone to see a value we’ve denied or missed in them. It means looking again at the world around us, or the family we live in. We can give up hope; we can lose our appreciation. Be reconciled, be ready “to look again” Jesus says, or you can miss the gift God gives at the altar.

The anger Jesus condemns in the gospel is that definitive anger that “kills” another, that condemns forever.

The sign of peace we offer at Mass is a sign of God’s call for reconciliation.

Respect is a form of love, St. Paul of the Cross writes, it’s “love loving your neighbor, putting up with the faults of others, looking at all with charity and compassion, having a good opinion of everyone and a bad opinion only of yourself. A simple eye lets you see your neighbor as full of virtues and yourself full of vices, but without discouragement, peacefully, humbly.” (Letter 525)

Lord,
let me look again at those I judge,
let me see them again as you do,
with mercy and forgiveness.
Make me an instrument of your peace,
bringing life and hope to others, not death

Readings: http://www.usccb.org.

For more: http://www.PassionistsPray.org

Thursday, 1st Week of Lent

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Lent 1

Matthew 7,7-12

Does God answer prayers? A question often asked. Some say God–if there is a God-doesn’t pay attention to us at all. We’re on our own. No one’s listening and no one cares.

Jesus certainly believed his Father listens and cares. He trusted God and asked God for things. He taught us to pray as he did. His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane reveals a trust that’s unfailing. Over and over he asks that his life be spared. “Father, let this cup pass from me.” He knocked and the door opened; the answer came, yet not as he willed, but as His Father willed. “An angel came to strengthen him,” to accept that answer.

His experience is a model for us. Yes, God gives good gifts to his children, but according to his will. He knows what we need. He gave his only Son the gift of new life, yet he had to first pass through death.

St. Paul of the Cross recognized the mystery surrounding petitionary prayer. Ultimately our prayer is answered, but often enough in mysterious ways that’s hard to understand. Our faith is tested when we pray for things.

“I thank the Father of Mercies that you are improved in health, and you say well that the Lord seems to be playing games. That’s what Scripture says: “God plays on the earth,” and “My delights are to be with the children of men.” How fortunate is the soul that silently in faith allows the games of love the Sovereign Good plays and abandons itself to his good pleasure, whether in health or sickness, in life or in death!”
(Letter 920)

The first reading today from the Book of Esther is an example of someone who comes late to praying. We might call Esther a non-practicing Jew, who prays when things get worse. Is Lent a time for non-practicing Christians to consider praying again? Faith grows through prayer.

“God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, blessed are you. 
Help me, who am alone and have no help but you,
for I am taking my life in my hand.
As a child I used to hear from the books of my forefathers
that you, O LORD, always free those who are pleasing to you.
Now help me, who am alone and have no one but you,
O LORD, my God. And now, come to help me, an orphan.” (Esther 12:14-16)

Lord,
I ask, I seek, I knock.
Let me never tire of prayer.
“In the day I called you answered me.”                                                                                 So attentive, so quickly you turn when I call.                                                                   Hear me
and let it be done
according to your will.

For more: http://www.PassiionistPray.org

Wednesday, 1st Week of Lent: The Sign of Jonah

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Jonah, Roman Catacombs


Luke 11:29-32

Jonah, starting out, doesn’t seem like much of a prophet, does he? He’s a frightened man fleeing the task God gives him–to preach repentance to the great city of Nineveh. He thinks it can’t be done. Not only does he think himself unable to preach repentance to that city but, as we see later in the story, he doesn’t think they deserve to be forgiven. He has a low estimation of God’s forgiveness.

He can’t stop the sailors who thought he cursed their ship from throwing him overboard. He would have been finished if the whale that swallowed him didn’t vomit him onto the shore at Nineveh.The people of Nineveh listened to Jonah and begged God for forgiveness. God calls Jonah to be his messenger of forgiveness.

In Jesus, a greater than Jonah calls us to take up his mission. Jesus announced his death and then rose from the belly of the earth. That’s his great word, his message of hope — God’s forgiveness. That message must be proclaimed to the whole world and the world must hear it.

Paintings and sculptures of the story of Jonah, like the above, often appear in the early Christian catacombs of Rome. There’s Jonah thrown to the whale. On the upper right panel, Moses strikes the rock and water flows, a sign of Baptism promising life. (Note the water flows over the whale) On the panel upper left, Jesus raises Lazarus from the grave.

The story of Jonah raises our hope and nourishes our prayers. God offers us a great mission and a great vision. As it was with Jonah, we may find it beyond our understanding and think our world unredeemable, but we are called to believe in the great mercy of God. but we are called to believe.

“Have mercy on me, O God, in your kindness” we pray in Psalm 51, our responsorial psalm today. Is that the prayer of one person, or is it the prayer of the whole world, yearning for forgiveness, like the people of Nineveh?

Lord,
I believe in the sign
that lifted you up and blesses us,
the sign of your Cross.
You bring resurrection and life to the world,.
Help us believe in what is beyond anything we know..
Amen.

For more: http://www.PassionistsPray.org

St. Gabriel Possenti, CP: February 27

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gabriel

St. Gabriel Possenti, was born on March 1, 1838. He was the 11th child of Agnes and Sante Possenti, governor of Assisi, Italy. Gabriel was baptized Francis after that city’s famous patron. He had everything a privileged child might hope for.

In 1841, the Possentis moved to Spoleto and Gabriel fell under the spell of that city’s bright social world. Spoleto was influenced by the Enlightenment, a movement that preferred what’s new to what’s old.

Lively, headstrong, intelligent, he was educated by the Christian Brothers and the Jesuits. Popular, usually head of his class, he embraced the city’s latest fashions, plays, dances and sporting events. Gabriel was charmed by it all.

Yet, something else kept calling him. A year after moving to Spoleto his mother Agnes died. Her death and the death of two brothers and three sisters made him think seriously about life. A couple of times he almost died himself. He heard Jesus calling him to give up everything and follow him, but then the call seemed to fade away.

In the spring of 1856, a fierce cholera epidemic struck Spoleto and Gabriel’s favorite sister died in the plague. The tragedy overwhelmed the people of the city. They processed through the streets with an ancient image of Mary. They prayed that she intercede to stop the plague. They also asked her to help them bear their heavy cross.

It was a transforming experience for Gabriel, who was drawn into the presence of Mary, the Sorrowful Mother. He passed the familiar mansions where he partied many nights. The theater and opera entertained him so often. He realized what little wisdom they offered now. He took his place at Mary’s side and at her urging joined the Passionist Congregation.

In a letter home, Gabriel described his new life as a Passionist to his father: “I would not trade even fifteen minutes here for a year. My new life is invaluable. I would not exchange it for any amount of time filled with shows and other pastimes of Spoleto. Indeed my life is filled with happiness.”

Gabriel died on February 27, 1862 and was canonized in 1920. Early biographies of Gabriel, especially that of his spiritual director Fr. Norbert, highlight his faithfulness to his religious rule. They stress his acceptance of sickness and death. They also note his great devotion to Mary, the Sorrowful Mother of Jesus.

Less noticed,  perhaps, is how Gabriel saw his life life answering the troubling times in which he lived. The Enlightenment was casting its spell on Italy in his day, threatening religious belief and church institutions. Yet, religious communities, like the Passionists, recovering from the Napoleonic suppression. were experiencing a surprising growth, sending missionaries to other parts of the world.

Gabriel would be aware that in 1845 John Henry Newman, the great English thinker joined the church. The Italian Passionist Dominic Barbari arrived in England a few years previously. He came to preach the gospel and received Newman into the church.

Newman’s writings, especially his University Sermons, describe the Enlightenment that affected England, but they could also describe could easily be describing its affect on Spoleto, Italy, and young people like Gabriel. At the same time, Newman was an apostle announciing a “New Spring ” for the world. It was a world Gabriel must have seen as he entered the Passionists.

Gabriel is a saint for young people. They are looking for the pearl of great price in the times in which they live. May he help young people find it today.. Interested in becoming a Passionist?

Lord God,

you hide your gifts “ from the learned and clever,

but reveal them to the merest children.”

Show your love to the young of today,

and call them to follow you.

Give them the grace you gave St.Gabriel,

grace to know you as good.

grace to judge life wisely,

grace to be joyful of heart.

Amen

The Chair of Peter: February 22

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Holy Spirit

,

The Feast of the Chair of St. Peter has been celebrated on February 22nd  in the Roman Catholic Church since the 4th century. The chair is enthroned today in Bernini’s massive setting behind the main altar in St. Peter’s Basilica.  A window bearing the symbol of the Holy Spirit casts its light on the chair and those it represents – Peter the Apostle and those who succeed him.

Today’s feast derives from an ancient Roman custom. Families gathered at their burial places during an 8 day celebration culminating on February 22 to remember their dead. At a banquet a chair was provided for the living head of the family who welcomed new members.

You can see why such a setting would inspire of feast for Peter. He presided over the family of the church and spoke for it from its beginning in Jerusalem. He baptized and welcomed Cornelius and his family in the church; ; he was its leader in Antioch in Syria. Jesus said to him:

You are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.””

Appropriately, the chair of Peter symbolizes those welcomed into the Catholic Church. Early on, Peter’s chair was set up near the baptistery in the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome. The chair of Peter is not a royal throne. It’s a father’s chair, a teacher’s chair. Appropriately, the pope today and his successors are called “Il Papa”.

Back in the 4th century, St. Jerome was baptized in the baptistery of St. Peter’s and he spoke of returning there to remember that great moment in his life when he was welcomed in the family of the church:

“I decided to consult the Chair of Peter, where faith was proclaimed by lips of an Apostle; I now come to ask for nourishment for my soul there, where once I received the garment of Christ. I follow no leader save Christ, so I enter into communion with you, that is, with the Chair of Peter, for this I know is the rock upon which the Church is built”.

Today’s a good day to look at our present “chairman”, “Il Papa”. Pope Francis , who became pope on March 13, 2013 and to ask God to keep him strong and faithful as a father and teacher of the church.

Here’s a study of Bernini’s setting for Peter’s chair.

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A World of Talking Trees: Mark 8:22-26

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“Do you still not understand?” Jesus said this to his disciples in Mark’s gospel right after curing a blind man who only gradually gains his sight. He has to lay his hands on the man’s eyes a second time before he sees clearly. Is that the way we see and understand, gradually?

The cross Jesus says we all must bear takes many forms and I wonder if one form it takes in our time is the cross of confusion. We like clear sight for ourselves and everyone else, but in times of great change confusion is inevitable. Like the man in the gospel we’re living in a world of “talking trees” and that’s hard to take, reasonable, resourceful people that we are.  It’s humbling to live in confusing times like ours..

It makes us angry. There’s a lot of anger around us today, the anger that boils over and lashes out, or the anger that retreats into a fortress of resistence and isolation.

Pope Francis often speaks of patience. He said patience keeps the church going. It keeps the world going too. He spoke once of the music of patience, a patience that hears and waits, like the patient blind man who waits for the hand of Jesus to reach out again.

That’s one of the lasting teachings of the Gospel of Mark. We’re human, we think as humans do, and that means we learn gradually, by patience.

“When Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethsaida,
people brought to him a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.
He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.
Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on the man and asked,
“Do you see anything?”
Looking up the man replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.”
Then he laid hands on the man’s eyes a second time and he saw clearly;
his sight was restored and he could see everything distinctly.
Then he sent him home and said, “Do not even go into the village.”
(Mark 8,22-26)

The Prayer of Abel: Genesis 4: 1-15

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Cain and Abel. James Tissot. Brooklyn Museum

God was pleased with the sacrifice of Abel, rather than that of Cain. St. Ambrose explains why:

“Jesus told us to pray urgently and often, so that our prayers should not be long and tedious but short, earnest and frequent. Long elaborate prayers overflow with pointless phrases, and long gaps between prayers eventually stretch out into complete neglect.

Next he advises that when you ask forgiveness for yourself then you must take special care to grant it also to others. In that way your action can add its voice to yours as you pray. The apostle also teaches that when you pray you must be free from anger and from disagreement with anyone, so that your prayer is not disturbed or broken into.

The apostle teaches us to pray anywhere, and the Saviour says ‘Go into your room’ – but you must understand that this “room” is not the room with four walls that confines your body when you are in it, but the secret space within you in which your thoughts are enclosed and where your sensations arrive. That is your prayer-room, always with you wherever you are, always secret wherever you are, with your only witness being God.

Above all, you must pray for the whole people: that is, for the whole body, for every part of your mother the Church, whose distinguishing feature is mutual love. If you ask for something for yourself then you will be praying for yourself only – and you must remember that more grace comes to one who prays for others than to any ordinary sinner. If each person prays for all people, then all people are effectively praying for each.

In conclusion, if you ask for something for yourself alone, you will be the only one asking for it; but if you ask for benefits for all, all in their turn will be asking for them for you. For you are in fact one of the “all.” Thus it is a great reward, as each person’s prayers acquire the weight of the prayers of everyone. There is nothing presumptuous about thinking like this: on the contrary, it is a sign of greater humility and more abundant fruitfulness.”

The World Here and the World Beyond

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Two worlds are described in the readings at Mass these weekdays. The Gospel of Mark tells of the world around Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus called his first disciples, encountered a demon in the synagogue, cured Peter’s mother in law, the paralyzed man and the leper– where he was fiercely opposed. (Mark 1,14-2,12) He became involved in a world like ours..

The world described in the Letter to the Hebrews is a world beyond this one, the world of the Risen Lord where he sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty..

The Letter to the Hebrews describes him further as a High Priest entering a heavenly sanctuary to intercede for us, a merciful High Priest. He is the same Jesus who entered Capernaum and cured Peter’s mother in law, the paralyzed man and the leper. He’s knows our humanity with its yearning, its weakness and hardness; he carries the wounds of suffering and death.

It’s hard to keep these two worlds in mind, but our readings, like our creed, tell us to do it. The worlds are not sealed off, they’re joined. They have a common goal:  “Our Father, thy will done, thy kingdom come.” The Risen Jesus is present in both of these worlds as Savior and Redeemer. Through him, God’s kingdom will come.

Unfortunately, we may think only of the world we see now, unsure or confused about a world beyond this one.  We may see the world beyond as an escape from this life, an isolated world in the clouds.

Both worlds are important to keep in mind. Together they help us see life in the full. A gift of God, greater than we can imagine.

Paul’s Conversion: January 25th

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Caravaggio, Conversion of Paul

Our yearly church calendar celebrates saints from every age and place because saints are examples of God’s grace present always and everywhere. Some saints are singled out for their importance. St. Paul the Apostle, whose dramatic conversion is celebrated on January 25th, is one of them. His martyrdom, along with Peter, is celebrated June 29th and we read extensively from his writings throughout the church year.

An account of Paul’s conversion ( Acts 22: 3-13) – one of three found in the Acts of the Apostles – is read first at his feast day Mass. Mark’s gospel for the feast recalls Jesu after his resurrection telling his disciples to “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16: 15-18)   St. Luke devotes much of the Acts to Paul’s  missionary journeys ending in Rome. The apostle fulfilled that command of Jesus.

Paul writes to the Corinthians: 

“I am the least of the apostles; in fact, since I persecuted the Church of God, I hardly deserve the name apostle; but by God’s grace that is what I am, and the grace that he gave me has not been fruitless. On the contrary, I have worked harder than any of the others: or rather, not I but the grace of God that is with me. (  1 Corthinians 15:9-10)

St. Paul is an example of how far we can rise, from the depths to the heights, and for that reason the church celebrates his conversion.  He never forgot that God’s grace raised him from the dust to become  a powerful force in his church and in the world. He never forgot he was a Pharisee who became one of Jesus’ most loyal disciples. His conversion gave him a boldness to go fearlessly to the ends of the earth 

  

“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”  Jesus says to him from a blinding light. He never forgot the moment he was blinded by a light that made him see.

“Paul, more than anyone else, has shown us what we really are, and in what our nobility consists, and of what virtue a human being is capable. Each day he aimed ever higher; each day he rose up with greater ardour and faced with new eagerness the dangers that threatened him. He summed up his attitude in the words: I forget what is behind me and push on to what lies ahead. When he saw death imminent, he bade others share his joy: Rejoice and be glad with me! And when danger, injustice and abuse threatened, he said: I am content with weakness, mistreatment and persecution. These he called the weapons of righteousness, thus telling us that he derived immense profit from them… ” ( St. John Chrysostom)                                                                                             

O God, who taught the whole world through the preaching of the blessed Apostle Paul, draw us, we pray, nearer to you through the example of him whose conversion we celebrate today, and so make us witnesses to your truth in the world.Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Pope John XXIII called for a Second Vatican Council on the Feast of the Conversion of Paul, January 25, 1959. He called for the church to be converted.